₹11,500 crore fraud rocks state-run PNB

₹11,500 crore fraud rocks state-run PNB

Context:

• State-run lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported unauthorised transactions worth ₹11,500 crore in one of its branches in south Mumbai.

Banking fraud:

• The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case in the matter.
• It involves Mumbai-based billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi.
• A case has been registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against him and his business associates as well as a serving PNB official and a retired deputy manager of the bank.

Stock plunges

• The bank’s stock plunged almost 10% through the day and its market capitalisation eroded by nearly ₹3,900 crore by the end of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Booked under Prevention of Corruption Act:

• All the accused have been booked for cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code along with criminal misconduct by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act.